Weston, FL Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Weston's zoning code folds dark-sky requirements into its parking-lot and site-lighting standards rather than a standalone lighting ordinance. Section 124.52(C)(1) directs architects and engineers to design and test lighting to the current IES Lighting Library Standards Collection, applying stricter local numeric standards where the City's own rules exceed the IES guide. Every site plan for a building must carry a parking facility lighting plan certified by a licensed architect or engineer under 124.52(C)(2), and under 124.52(C)(7) the lighting cannot go into permanent use until the design engineer certifies in writing that it was field-tested and installed per the approved plans.

Section 124.52(C)(4) limits every fixture citywide, for parking, ATMs, and private-roadway street lights alike, to metal halide or LED only; no other lamp type is permitted. Section 124.52(C)(6) layers the dark-sky mandate on top: all parking lot lights must be dark-sky compliant and mounted horizontal to the ground, not tilted or angled upward. Illumination is also time-gated: business parking lots must be lit from 30 minutes after sunset to sunrise, and lighting serving residential parking must maintain minimum levels around the clock. Any property whose lighting predates these standards and does not comply had 180 days from the section's adoption to retrofit under 124.52(C)(8), a deadline first set with the 2010 ordinance and carried through the 2015, 2017, and 2026 amendments to the section.